SinglePoint To Develop A Safe Bitcoin Payment Solution For The Cannabis Industry

SinglePoint and First Bitcoin Capital (FBC) signed a Joint Venture agreement to develop and distribute a proprietary payments solution which will allow large-scale, risk-free use of credit and debit cards within the Cannabis industry.

Although the buying and selling of cannabis for medical and recreational use have been legalized by State governments in several US states, payments are mostly still restricted to cash. US federal law, which states that ‘marijuana’ is illegal to manufacture, distribute, dispense, or possess, prohibits banks and credit unions from taking these proceeds and thereby prevents cannabis dispensaries from accepting payments through credit or debit cards issued by banks. Due to federal law, almost everyone in the Cannabis industry has a banking problem, cannot get loans, and customers must pay in cash.

SinglePoint and FBC aim to solve this problem by offering a custom payment solution that routes credit and debit card payments through bitcoin, using blockchain technology to eliminate banks from the process. They believe they have found a way to do this while keeping the customer experience unchanged at the point of sale when paying with a credit or debit card at medical and recreational cannabis dispensaries. SinglePoint already offers a tailor-made payment method for dispensaries called SingleSeed Payments which offers cashless ATMs, text message marketing platforms, and mobile payment platforms developed specifically for cannabis businesses, but it does not use Bitcoin or blockchain. The new solution will utilize the benefits of digital currency to build a foundation for convenient card payments with bitcoin.

SinglePoint, Inc is a company that develops and sells mobile business platforms and related business technologies. Its primary products allow businesses to accept mobile payments, conduct text message marketing, and host mobile auctions. SinglePoint has also recently forayed into the medical sector by creating a subsidiary that offers these technology solutions specialized for cannabis businesses.

First Bitcoin Capital Corp. is the first vertically integrated, publicly-traded Bitcoin entity to enter the lucrative crypto-currency space, which seeks to vertically consolidate each and every segment of the digital currency arena in order to promote and help the digital currency industry grow. The goal of First Bitcoin Capital Corp. is to acquire Bitcoin startups, raise funding and invest in companies that are developing Bitcoin software or hardware applications.

Because bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency, it enables financial transactions that do not involve banks which are subject to federal government regulations. This independence from the traditional banking infrastructure will provide an ideal foundation for building a payments network for the Cannabis industry. The SinglePoint/FBC solution will be developed to allow cannabis businesses to accept credit/debit card payments without relying on cooperation from (uncooperative) banks.

This solution to allow card payments for dispensaries addresses a ubiquitous problem, and is a crucial necessity. It will make the industry safer for business owners and customers/patients alike. Carrying large amounts of cash is dangerous for customers, and dispensaries that hold a lot of cash are targets for theft and armed robbery. Credit/debit card payments will also cut down on costs for dispensaries who are forced to invest in expensive anti-theft measures. It is an important step in the evolution of the Cannabis industry, an industry that is projected to be worth $24.1 billion by 2025.